LuffyxNami - The Promise
by Whatsherface739
Summary: (SPOILER ALERT: contains info about Ace) Luffy wants Nami to be his queen, but it won't be as simple as he thinks. Action/drama/romance (supposed to take place some time after time skip: hence the reason why Nami doesn't spend the WHOLE story beating the crap outta Luffy). Also quite a bit ZoroxRobin involved
1. Marry Me

Author's note: Hey guys! This is my very first fanfic and/or romance blurp. It might be kinda cheesy and boring, but I really hope you think otherwise!

Enjoy! :D

~Whatsherface739

...

_ Nami smiled ear-to-ear as her small, juvenile hands cupped around a fresh, ripe tangerine. "Bellemere, this one looks nice and ripe!" she beamed, proudly showing the fruit to her hero._

"_Ah, yes it does, Nami! You're sure good at this," Bellemere smiled warmly as she __ruffled Nami's hair. "Almost as good as you are at drawing maps!" A smile spread across her caring face, almost always accompanied with a cigarette, which gave a sort of edge to her soft features. Nami smiled back at her, giddy with excitement._

"_One day, I'm gonna draw a map of the world!" _

_Bellemere laughed. She always had such a wonderful laugh. It was like music to Nami's ears. Smile still lingering on her face, she knelt down in front of Nami._

"_I'm sure you are! I have no doubt in you. __As long as you're alive there will be better things in your future...and there will be many__.__" _

_Nami's bright smile faded suddenly. "Bellemere, what's happening to your face?"_

_Bellemere's skin was slowly melting, sickly bubbling as if exposed to acid. _

"_Bellemere…?" Nami's large eyes widened in terror. _

_Half of her face was nothing but a skull now, skin and flesh left in a steaming heap on the ground. Her eyes rolled out of their sockets and detached from her face with a sickening crackling sound. _

"_BELLEMERE!" Nami was now in tears from the horror._

"_As long as you're alive…"_

Nami immediately jerked into a sitting position, breathing heavily and feeling her sweat-soaked sheets beneath her. Digging her fingers into the mattress, reality instantly hit her and she began sobbing more than she ever had since Bellemere had left her life. She curled up, burying her face into her knees, when she felt something slip from her silky mass of hair.

She slowly lifted from her knees, wiped her tears away with her arm, and turned to discover the object that fell.

Luffy's hat lay on the floor. It had fallen off of her head.

_He must have heard me screaming in my sleep, _she thought.

Leaning to her side to pick up the hat, she firmly placed it back on. It was so strange, as soon as that hat was placed on her head, she felt a wave of comfort again.

She remembered that she was now safe.

Free.

In pensive thought, Nami sat cross-legged, staring into space. Thinking about the reason behind the hat's comfort, and _why the hell does that idiot always show up when…_

She lost her trail of thought, for she heard snoring.

At first she had thought it might be Robin, but she then remembered how her azure-hued roommate so often liked to stay up late in the library. The girl's quarters had pretty much belonged to Nami at night, since Robin had used it so little lately.

Stretching her neck out to peer over the foot of her bed, what she saw didn't surprise her much. There, in the corner of her cabin, was Luffy, asleep on the floor, sitting up against the wall.

Nami sharply snapped open her mouth, and right when she was about to shout 'Why the hell are you in my cabin,' she stopped herself. She'd almost forgotten that she'd now felt much different about Luffy. So instead, she gazed at him for awhile, and only smiled. But not just any average smile. A smile that's very rare for Nami.

A loving smile.

Slowly turning to her left to step out of bed, she pressed the hat securely on her head, the smile still lingering on her tear-stained face all the while. Nami started across the room as quietly as her thief skills could manage to where Luffy sat sleeping, and plopped down on the floor next to him.

Looking to her right, her eyelids became heavy from sleepiness, and her eyes were relaxingly fixed on his face for awhile. Her fingers reached out. They hesitated for only a moment, but then began to stroke and twirl his hair, and eventually made their way to the scar below his eye. She softly ran her fingers over it a few times, and then resumed caressing his adorably messy, dark hair.

_Hm, well he _is _a heavy sleeper…_ she thought to herself.

Taking the hat off and returning it to its owner's head, she leaned in as close as possible to his ear. "Thank you, Luffy… for everything…" she whispered to him in a shockingly sincere tone, and quickly pecked him on the cheek. She slowly leaned her head on his shoulder; now comforted, and about to drift off to sleep again, she let her eyes give into their heaviness…

"No problem, Nami." A huge, more-than-pleased grin spread across Luffy's face.

Nami jerked her eyes open. "YOU DUMBASS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SLEEPING!" She abruptly stood up, and shortly after he did, too.

Luffy tilted his hat back so that the brim was out of his eyes. He smiled a toothy grin.

"Heh heh. That's okay, Nami. I kinda liked it!"

Nami scowled at him, blushing heavily with her arms folded angrily across her chest. "H-How… long were you… awake?"

"Since you woke up. I wanted to see what you would do." He beamed.

Nami's scowl faded, and was now blushing even more. She refused to make eye contact with Luffy, and turned her head to the side, holding her nose up in a snooty manner.

But then, she suddenly felt a warm sensation on top of her head.

"Hey," Luffy started.

Nami's hands reached up to feel his hat pressed firmly back on.

"Are you okay?" he was serious now.

Grabbing the brim of his hat with her hands, she refused to let go of it, but still refused to make eye contact.

"Nami?"

"Idiot." She finally sighed, giving into her guilt.

She turned to him, still blushing a deep red.

"Heh, heh! Why are you so embarrassed?" He teased, telling her it was no big deal. He then suddenly stretched out his arm with his devil fruit powers and wrapped it around her waist. Swiftly pulling her close to him like the snap of a rubber band, he leaned in close to her so their foreheads touched.

"I liked it," he grinned.

Nami's eyelids then grew heavy, and her face was scarlet red. Who knew he had so much charm? Luffy seemed to be inching closer to her lips. He then stopped right before their lips touched, teasing her more than ever.

"So... you wanna kiss me, huh?" He asked, his grin growing wider.

"Wha- YOU DON'T ASK SOMEONE THAT BEFORE YOU KISS THEM, STUPID!"

"Huh. Then I guess I'll just have to wait."

He tightened the grip on her waist, pulling her closer.

Their lips were now millimeters apart.

"No," Nami then replied, breathing heavily. She began stroking and twirling his raven strands, working her way down to his neck, and toying with him as best she could. Luffy bought it as some sort of contest, so he stuck his tongue out in determination, and squished his hands on either side of her face.

"Nice try, monkey-boy. I already kissed y…!"

Before she knew it, Luffy's lips locked with hers. Luffy melted into her arms, as his hands slowly slipped down from her face to her waist again, hugging her closely against him to comfort her from all of her fears. Nami stroked his hair with one hand, and pressed his chest against hers with the other, letting him know he was the only one she really felt safe with. He tried to grab her butt once, but she squeezed a pressure point in his hand by his thumb, making him moan a painful "_Mrrrmmm._"

"Ouch, Nami," he huffed, parting from her lips. "That really hurt. And... you made me kiss you. What the hell." He then smiled a huge, toothy smile.

"…I've been wanting to do that for so long! Heh heh heh!" He laughed.

Nami blushed again. She didn't know why, but she wanted to punch him in the face so hard.

But a new feeling overcame those usual thoughts.

"You have…?"

Luffy suddenly stopped laughing and was serious. "Well, yeah, Nami. Why do you think I only let _you_ wear my hat?" he said, so matter-of-factly. Everything was so simple to him.

"Because I'm your Nakama. That's what you said," she replied, in a slightly disappointed tone, pressing a hand tightly on the hat made of straw.

"Well yeah, you _are_ my Nakama. But you're a lot more than just that. You're special to me. You're like… uhh..." Luffy paused for a moment, rubbing the back of his head, thinking.

"My... pirate queen!" He smiled his big smile again, but then braced himself for another whack on the head.

But Nami instead did something unthinkable.

She smiled _back_.

"Pirate Queen, huh?" She laughed, raising an eyebrow.

"I like the sound of that."

He looked like he was about to explode from happiness at her response.

An unexpected wave of tears welled up in her eyes again at the sight of his carefree smile. A slideshow of flashbacks went through her mind filled with all of the crazy things he had done for her. To rescue her. To free her. To keep her alive.

She seemed to so often forget it.

She seemed to not appreciate it.

It was like she _forgot_ to _appreciate_ it.

She sighed. "Luffy…"

"Yeah, Nami? What's wrong? Are you oka…"

Placing a dainty, nail-polished finger to his lips, she lovingly gestured _'shut up'._ She then firmly placed her hands on his chest, preparing herself for the dreadful words that were about to slip from her normally-abusive mouth.

"I think I..."

By this time, she looked sunburned.

"Gah! Nami! You're all red! What's wrong with your face!?"

Nami gave him an annoyed stare.

"You just ruined the moment!" she scolded him, thumping him on the head.

"Ouuuch." He whined, rubbing his forming bruise.

"Look, I just... I think I... _love _you. Okay? There, I said it!"

"H...Huh?" Luffy asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Don't make me say it again, you idiot!"

"You… what? Really?" He then sort-of confirmed, still surprised.

"Heh, heh, really!?" He was gradually becoming happier, and happier...

And that was when he laughed.

Long… and hard.

Her eyes slowly fell to the floor, in embarrassment, heartbreak, and fury.

"_Yeah_… _heh, heh. Really..._" Nami let out as if it were a sigh. She forced a painful smile, and turned her head from his gaze, looking ashamed.

Luffy's smile faded in confusion.

"I knew you'd think it was stupid. It's fine. I think it is, too."

Frustrated tears were piling onto the earlier ones.

Luffy furrowed his brow in pure worry and cocked his head to one side.

"Wha…? N-Nami…?"

"Forget it."

Keeping her head down to avoid his gaze, she quickly turned to start walking out the door… when she felt a warm, strong hand grab and tighten on her wrist.

"Nami…" He called her name so longingly. She was a little shocked to hear agonizing hurt in his voice.

"Please… don't cry… I can help you. Please…"

She turned her head to meet his eyes. The look on her face reminded him of that day…

"_Luffy… Help me."_

Tears were now forming in his eyes. He tightened his grip on her wrist.

"Nami…"

"_Help me."_

"_YOU MADE OUR NAVIGATOR CRY!"_

"Stop crying… Please." His strong hand was trembling now. She was the only person who could make him so suddenly weakened.

Nami couldn't take it any longer. She sprinted towards him, falling into his arms and burying her head into his scarred chest. Tears still streaming down both of their faces, she muttered,

"Dammit, Luffy…"

Luffy hugged her tighter.

"Stop… crying… I'll protect you…" He whispered shakily, the brim of his hat darkening the pain his eyes revealed.

He couldn't bear the thought of himself being the very reason of Nami's tears. If anyone else made her cry in the past, he would kick their ass… but this time, it was he who made her cry.

"I'll kick my own ass if I have to…" he said to her through gritted teeth, still squeezing her as tight as he could manage.

And that was when she softly laughed. She laughed, because she realized that he loved her, too. He didn't even have to say it, because now, she knew.

_Wow, I'm the stupid one,_ she thought to herself.

She attempted to pull free of his embrace to look him in the eye, but she couldn't move. He was holding her too tightly, and there was no way he would let her go. Not now. He wanted her to _know _how much he hated it when she cried.

"Luffy… it's okay… I'm not crying anymore," she managed to whisper, half-suffocating.

It was Luffy who then pulled from the death-grip, holding her firmly by her shoulders. He concentrated on her face with just the slightest hint of a scowl left, only because the newly surfaced serenity in her eyes had calmed him down.

"I hate it when you cry!" he coughed painfully, gently scraping away the tears still left on her face.

That was when Nami's smile grew, to let him know she truly was happy now. She smiled at him like she never had before and returned his favor by stroking away all of his freshly-formed tears. There were many more tears streaming down his face now, and she thought she could actually feel her own heart wrench with pain.

She didn't feel quite like herself anymore.

Luffy gazed at her longingly. He thought she was so beautiful. Especially when she smiled. Her lovely light sorrel eyes glittered as they formed yet another fresh tear, of which he slowly and softly wiped away with his thumb. Her hair, so unique, was a light orange color that cascaded down to her waist, much like that of a tangerine waterfall. It softly glowed in the presence of the small window in the room, letting in a little bit of moonlight; just enough to make her appear as an angel. He then looked at her perfect face as a whole. Her perfect, flawless skin. Her long, fluttering lashes. Her perfect, angelic lips. Her glossy eyes gazed into his, her long voluptuous lashes growing heavy on her eyelids as she returned the same longing gaze he was giving her.

_My chest is gonna explode…_ he thought to himself. His heart was beating almost as hard as he was falling for her.

And he didn't even know what any of it meant, but he wanted her.

Now.

"Marry me." He said to her.

"Wh-Wha…!?"

"Marry me, Nami."

Tucking a stray piece of her silky orange mass behind her ear, his eyes wandered from her mesmerized eyes down to her large chest, and from her hair back to her own eyes again.

He firmly pressed the hat more securely on her head. "Marry me. That's an order."

A familiar, huge grin returned, slowly growing across his face.

"Well, we can't right now, you idiot," she said to him, smirking.

"We'll make it official when I'm pirate king."

Nami smiled wider. _He's really serious…_ she thought to herself.

"Fine, I'll marry you," she said, grinning and rolling her eyes.

"Yeah! Heh heh heh!" He laughed ecstatically, grinning ear-to-ear.

Nami placed the hat back onto his head. She then nuzzled her head underneath his chin.

"So, what now?" she spoke seductively, running her fingers temptingly down his chest.

He shivered in delight.

"The choice is yours... your, uh, highness."

Nami laughed. She wasn't used to Luffy talking like that. She then leaned in once again, close enough so that her lips could barely brush against his neck.

"I'm getting sleepy…" she whispered softly.

Luffy laughed. "Woah... you're good at this, Nami."

To her surprise, Luffy scooped her right up bridal-style and carried her to her bed. He tucked her in gently, much like Bellemere used to when she was little. He then sat right next to her on her bedside, and waited.

"Luffy? what are you doing?"

"I'm staying right here, in case you have any more nightmares," he said with a determined look on his face.

Nami then pulled him into her bed. "I won't have any nightmares if you're with me."

Luffy understood happily, and slipped under the sheets with her. After taking off his straw hat and placing it on the corner of the headboard, he pressed her securely against him, so no one could take her away.

While Nami continued stroking him softly, running her hand up and down his back, Luffy rested his chin atop her head in deep thought. He was so tempted to let out all of the feelings building up inside of his chest. But deep down, he knew it was the wrong decision.

They were older now, and his big brother Ace had died; and since the two years he had been apart from his crew he had felt that Nami was the closest one to him that he had left, since she had gone through something just as devastating. He didn't want any mistakes to be made, but he wanted so much more of her.

He sighed restlessly, struggling to hold back his temptations.

...

Yeah... that's it for now! Hm, I wonder what will happen... :3

Please leave positive reviews and I'll write more!(:


	2. Sanji's Warning

Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks so much for the reviews! Even though I only got a few, they were all really positive and encouraging. I wish I could have replied to you guys, but this website layout kinda confuses me so I dunno how yet. So anyway, here's chapter 2!

~Whatsherface739

...

"Nami? Can I borrow your…"

A bright beam of light from the morning was peering through the small window when Robin entered the girl's quarters. What she saw at first made her eyes widen in shock a little, but almost immediately after, a calm grin crept across her face.

What she saw was Nami sprawled out on the bed, taking up every inch of space, and Luffy tossed face-down on the floor with his butt sticking up in the air.

Robin slowly shut the door, not wishing to disturb them.

_"I guess it was only a matter of time… it's been so obvious lately, how easily he snaps when it comes to Nami,"_ she spoke to herself in her head.

She wasn't the type to go snooping around in other peoples' business, but part of her was wondering what had happened last night. Staring off into space, she studied the floor under her feet and saw an old cigarette lying there. She thought about how it may foreshadow the future, and realized that she'd better go distract Sanji awhile for Luffy's sake. Making her way onto the deck, her lovely black hair trailed behind her. She walked past Usopp, who glanced in her direction briefly and then went straight back to concentrating on target practice with the cannons.

"Where's Luffy and Nami?" He asked her, tilting the cannon ever-so-slightly to the right. "They're usually up by now."

"It's about as much my business as it is yours… they could be asleep for hours more, for all I know."

...

Nami stirred, her hands reaching out everywhere on the bed, feeling around for the one she'd fallen asleep with.

_"Ngggh... Lu... ffy?"_ she moaned, half of her face still squished into her pillow.

Luffy, who was face-down on the floor, moaned in reply.

"Nnnnn... Yrrh Nnrrrmi?" he mumbled, the floor muffling his mouth.

Nami opened her eyes. _"Luffy...?"_ she repeated, pushing herself up from her pillow to get a better view of him.

"What are you doing on the floor...?"

Luffy sleepily stretched out and rolled over to face the ceiling, laughing a little. "Heh heh, I was just about to ask you the same thing. I guess you're a pretty violent sleeper, Nami," he grinned happily, resting his head in his hands.

Nami blushed. She could tell she'd already become more sensitive around him.

"Well, _you're_ such a heavy sleeper, I could kick you in the gut 20 times and you wouldn't even flinch. You're about as good as a _potato_..." she replied, irritated.

Luffy's stomach rumbled. "Mmmm... potatoes..." he said to himself, licking his lips. "I'm gonna go eat. I'm _hungryy._"

Getting up from his sleeping spot and facing the door, he suddenly stopped for a minute and turned back to Nami.

Without a word, he switched his direction and walked over to sit on Nami's bedside.

She'd even distracted him from food.

"...Any more nightmares?" he asked, focusing on her sleepy eyes. She smiled a little, and slightly shook her head, "no."

"Then I'll sleep here from now on," he said with a straight face, snatching his hat back from the headboard. He rested it back on his head, as if completing himself with the trademark piece that made him... well, him.

Nami's face became red-hot. "YOU'RE... _HUH?"_

Luffy pecked her on the lips and nonchalantly made his way to the door. "Yeah. See ya soon... I'm starving."

Nami sat up in bed, still blushing, wondering about the things that would probably happen if they were alone together...

_Every night._

"Wh... _NOW JUST WAIT A SECOND!"_ she shouted after him.

She could hear him laughing down the hall.

...

Since everyone else had already eaten breakfast, Luffy was alone in the galley with Sanji. He didn't really think much of it, until he was lifted up off his feet by the collar of his red cardigan.

"Woah, hey, Sanji. What's your problem?" He snapped, his hands gripping Sanji's wrists.

"Don't think I don't know about what's going on. And that's fine by me. But if you ever, _ever_ try to hurt Nami-Swan..."

"You know, you're pretty stupid if you think I'd ever hurt Nami," Luffy grinned, as if to challenge him.

Sanji grunted, dropping his collar.

"Break her heart, and it'll be the end of you."

Luffy glared at him through the brim of his hat.

"_Hmph._ Bastard. There's no way in hell I would hurt Nami."

Sanji walked out to the deck without another word, leaving an unbelievably infuriated Luffy behind.

...

Yeah, so that's it for chapter 2! I know it wasn't too juicy as far as romance and stuff but the next chapter will be better. Please leave positive reviews and I'll have more action/romance/drama in chapter 3! It'll be a good one(:


	3. I Promise

Author's note: Hey guys. This chapter's pretty dirty, but not quite enough to get into the M-rating if ya know what I mean... ;)

It's also pretty juicy all around. So here's your little juice box or whatever you wanna call it.

~Whatsherface739

...

"Well, there's no WAY we can get there if we keep taking this route..."

Letting her forehead rest limply on her hand, Nami had noticed how hard it had been to focus on her maps lately. She tried concentrating as hard as she could, to the point where she had to start messaging her temples. But the same name kept ringing through her straining brain, like a broken record that could not be fixed.

_Luffy._

_Luffy._

_Luffy._

Sighing in defeat, she let her head fall to the desk.

"Ughhh... I can't plot our location... Not like this... We'll get lost..."

Staring at the darkness of the desk that her face was pressed into, she decided it would be best if she went out onto the deck to get some fresh air.

Scanning the horizon, she tried to make out where the ship was from there, but she couldn't quite see far enough for it to be a distance that met her satisfaction; so she made her way across the deck to the railing.

Letting the wind have her hair and toss it wherever it may, she let her eyes fall from the horizon to the glistening ocean. She sighed in distress.

Finding this island was very important to her. This was the island that would change her life forever, for years to come. This was the island that could help her discover her true identity. This was the island that held her past, present, and future... It was her destiny, it was her fate to set foot on this island.

Why? Well, that was her own little secret.

"Nami-Swan!" Sanji urgently called to her, as his eyes evolved into large, perverted hearts.

"You didn't eat breakfast! Oh, how hungry you must be, Nami-Swa..."

"I'll be okay, Sanji-kun," she smiled, dismissing him.

He opened his mouth, about to talk her into eating something, until Nico Robin had caught the corner of his eye. Without another word to Nami, his eyes popped into hearts again as he bounded off in titty-paradise, chanting "Robin-chwaaan! Are you hungryyy?"

Nami didn't give much attention to it, for her eyes never left the endless and beautiful blue of the sea. The longer she stared at it, the more her hope had grown; and the more she smiled.

_I'll find you, island._

As if in reply, the wind softly whispered back to her, tossing her hair every which way.

In her own blissful little world, she closed her eyes, more at peace than she had ever been with herself. However, at the same time, she felt that her heart had become very fragile; more susceptible to things that had never been able to even scratch the surface of her emotions before.

It could very easily break at this point, if anything had ever happened to him.

_It's him,_ she thought. _It's so weird to admit it, but... i__t's always been him..._

It was then that she felt two strong, warm arms hug her waist, and a chin rest upon her shoulder.

"Whatcha lookin at?" Luffy asked her quietly, following her gaze to the endless ocean.

Nami turned from the sea, and began walking in the opposite direction, a little flustered from her overwhelming and recent feelings.

"It's nothing, I just... needed some fresh air," she replied, leaving a pretty confused Luffy far behind her. She returned to her maps, and Luffy hesitated at first, but followed not far behind.

"Hey. What's wrong, Nami?" He asked her, cautiously shutting the door behind him.

"What if I told you... That we might be lost?" she replied, the words rolling off of her tongue and feeling so foreign to her.

Luffy laughed. "Heh heh, that's a good one. We've never been lost!"

"Yeah, well we are now," she said, sitting down and giving a dirty look to her maps.

He then walked to the largest map to get a better view of it, and leaned on the table with his hands pressed on either side of it. Looking it over for awhile, and trying to help her, he gave up miserably.

"You're the smartest person I know, Nami. I know you'll figure it out."

Almost immediately bringing up a flashback, she remembered when Bellemere had said those exact same words to her when she was little. He reminded her so much of Bellemere sometimes.

She sighed, grinning."Whatever you say, monkey-boy."

Concentrating on her eyes, she could sense he was trying with all his might to come up with something, anything, that would make her motivated.

"Sometimes... You remind me of him," Luffy said.

She didn't know what it meant, but it sounded very important to him.

She kept listening.

"You remind me of Ace. He always used to call me that, when we were younger... 'Monkey-boy.' And he always believed in me, no matter what. Just like you do."

Nami blushed as he knelt down to her eye level.

Placing a hand on her cheek and touching his forehead to hers, he told her in a hushed tone,

"You are my nakama... But you're also my _family_, Nami."

He inched closer to her face.

"You're the only family I have left..."

Then, not coming any closer, as if waiting for permission, he waited for her response.

He had no idea that Nami had, in fact, felt the exact same way.

But something else weighed heavier in the back of her mind.

"Luffy..." She whispered shakily, tears welling up inside her large, bronze eyes.

"We can't do this..."

"Huh?" Luffy asked, clueless.

"Don't you get it!? This isn't supposed to happen. There will be times in the future when one of us could _die_, Luffy. Something could happen to one of us. It's no different than what happened to Bellemere or your brother. Getting too close to someone puts them in danger."

Luffy was silent for awhile.

"It puts _you_ in danger," she clarified.

"I won't let you die," he then replied.

"We made it this far. All of us. Not one of us is dead."

He grabbed her hand and held it firmly in his.

"I won't let you die, Nami," he repeated one last time.

"I promise."

More tears streamed down her face, and at the moment, it was as if he had read her mind.

"And I won't let myself die."

Her heart thumped harder, and she didn't want to believe his words. But for some unknown reason... She did.

"I can't..."

She gazed at his adorable face and flushed a scarlet red.

_Dammit, Nami, stop blushing!_

She scolded herself.

_But ugh... He is so cute. No. No._

_Stop it..._

Not able to stand anymore waiting, it was he who then gave into instinct and slammed his lips against hers. She moaned as his tongue snaked into the entrance of her mouth, begging for permission to enter. Opening her jaw wider without hesitation, she began to take off his cardigan.

_Oh, his abs... His wonderful abs..._

she thought, their lips still locked, lowering him to the floor so she had the pleasure of being on top of him. She ran her fingers down the firm crevices of his ab muscles as their tongues engaged in a fiery dance for dominance. She breathed heavily as his lips parted from hers, and she followed them at first, thirsting for more. But his lips then moved to her neck, and she went crazy.

"God, dammit... Not the neck..." She mumbled in a relaxed tone as he started to tug on her bikini top string.

"Luffy... Stop... Please..." She said through the bliss with the very little ounce of sense she had left.

Luffy knew he shouldn't be doing this either, but even as excruciatingly hard as it was for him, he forced himself to stop for the sake of Nami.

He sat up, and so did she. They faced each other, their faces still just a bit too close. Both in agony, both so tempted, they still knew this wasn't the right place or time. Luffy knew he couldn't stay too close to her for very long without turning into an animal, so he stood up and backed away from her.

He let the brim of his hat hide his eyes, and as if he were ashamed of himself, he vanished out the door without another word.

"Luffy, wait..." She called as her voice quavered, yearning for his presence already.

The door slowly shut.

...

_"It's true that we are not related by blood... But they are still my family."_

_- Bellemere_

...

That night, Nami wondered if Luffy would stay true to his word and sleep with her in her cabin. He hadn't shown up for hours yet, and it was already close to midnight. Missing him terribly, she decided to look for him on deck.

As soon as she came outside into the night, she began plotting out the stars to decipher their location in relation to the island, but she sighed, as it was still useless. Her eyes fell from the sky to her eye level again, and she could make out a shadowy figure sitting cross-legged on the ship's bowsprit.

She paced herself, fast-walking towards it, when suddenly, she felt a hand grab and hold her hands firmly behind her back, and another one clasp tightly over her mouth.

It was a trap.

She tried to scream, to bite the hand, but she felt another hand hold a knife against her neck. Pulled away against her will, Nami struggled to free herself, desperately twisting and turning every which way; but it only made the knife come closer, taunting her even more.

"MMMRM... LRRHFYYY!"

She screamed through the hand.

Before she knew it, the knife had slit her throat just enough to make her fall unconscious, and she was dragged away in the emptiness of the night.

...

That's it for chapter 3! Don't forget to review!


	4. Nami's Father

Author's note: Hey, it's me again! I just wanna squeeze in a quick note here. I'm about to make a pretty big revelation in this chapter, which some of you may strongly disagree with. Please spare me from the lovely gesture of hate mail, and consider the possibilities of it. I wanted to make this story as twisty and unexpected as I can, because in my opinion those are the most fun to read. Ask yourself the question: What if this twist had taken place in the real series? Would I send Sensei Oda hate mail?

ANYWAYS, sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I've been pretty busy lately. This chapter's just kinda building suspense, but the next chapter is gonna be the action-filled chapter. Yeah, just so ya know. So I hope you like this one! Enjoy!

~Whatsherface739

**...**

Luffy very rarely felt ashamed of himself. And it was a well-known truth that he scarcely feared anything.

However, at that time, at that very moment, he certainly was ashamed of himself.

And he was also now very much afraid.

Afraid of losing her.

Why was this happening? What had caused him to become so suddenly vulnerable? It wasn't like him.

It wasn't like him at all.

He was alone in the galley. He loved to stay there at night, when there wasn't much else to do, and just eat... because he knew it pissed off Sanji like none other when he would come in the morning and find that there was no meat left to cook with. He ate when he was hungry, he ate when he was full, he ate when he was bored, he ate when he was happy, he ate when he was sad, he ate when he was tired, he ate when he was hyper... and he ate, in this case, when he hated himself.

So if he ate all of the time, it made sense that he should just stick around in the galley.

He rested his elbow on the dining table, leaning his head into his hand. He bit off a huge hunk of meat with a blank expression. He thought about what he had said about sleeping with Nami, and remembered that those terrible nightmares would probably rear their ugly heads without him there. He couldn't stand the thought of that, so he decided he might as well go check on her.

As soon as he stepped outside, the air became still. It was as if time had stopped, and the world had been muted because of his arrival. It was too quiet; too empty, and it didn't feel right.

_Hmph,_ he grunted, scanning his surroundings as precisely as he could.

He could sense it. Something had happened here...

Almost as if it were instinct, he sprinted to the railing on one side of the ship, and peered out into the ocean as far as his eyes could process.

Nothing.

He then ran to the opposite railing, rocking the ship slightly with his inhuman speed. He searched the dark horizon again, but still saw nothing.

In a sort of monstrously determined, yet terribly desperate sprint, he mindlessly ran as fast as he could towards the bowsprit. There, he saw a stack of sacks of potatoes and a smashed barrel shaped to look like a straw hat on top. The contraption was tied to the bowsprit, and he discovered that, the more he had greatened his distance from it, the more it had taken the shape of him.

"They tricked her," he said to himself, unbelievably furious, yet still surprised that he had figured something out for once in his life.

He stretched his neck far up into the sky like the rubber-man he was, and squinted into the distance as he rotated his head every which way.

"Wow... Nami wasn't kidding... We really are lost."

There was absolutely nothing in sight for miles; not even mountains. Nothing but pure ocean surrounded his elongated neck, which was towering miles above the Thousand Sunny. Perhaps it was only the darkness, or perhaps they were just stuck somewhere in the middle of this total error of a route.

After about an hour of staring desperately into every direction in refusal of giving up, he finally lowered his head in pure and utter sorrow, bringing his neck back to its normal shape.

"No.

No... Nami... She's gone. She's..."

taking off his straw hat and lowering it to his heart, tears the size of marbles enveloped his cheeks.

"GAAAAHH!" He screamed at the sky.

Sprinting down into the cabins, he made his arm twist into a funnel to amplify his voice.

"EVERYONE GET YOUR ASSES UP!" He screamed right next to the doors. Already causing some annoyed moans and mumbles, he continued, "NAMI'S MISSING! GET THE HELL UP! I DON' T GIVE A SHIT HOW TIRED YOU ARE, OUT THE DOOR! OUT! GET YOUR ASSES ON DECK, NOW!"

The first one to shoot out of his cabin, of course, was Sanji.

Next was Robin, who was surprisingly put-together for having just rolled out of bed.

After Robin came Chopper, with a slightly worried expression on his small face after hearing such news.

Following Chopper, out came Usopp, Brook, then Franky... And that's it, right?

The whole crew turned in irritation to give glares at the last door to open, the men's quarters. Its hinges creaked as he ever-so-slowly came out the door, step-by-step, in no rush at all.

Popping his neck and slowly stretching, not catching what the big deal was(for it did interrupt his precious sleeping time), Zoro opened one eye to acknowledge Luffy and everyone. That was his way of saying,

_I'm listening_.

Luffy didn't pay any attention to Zoro's completely unusual ignorance, for he was already blinded by enough fury.

Slightly trembling from his incredible newfound anger, he started,

"Chopper, you'll be on first-watch. Franky, you can beat the shit out of any intruders. Usopp, be on guard by the cannons. Brook, make some noise to attract some other ships or boats, so we can track down where they came from. Zoro, you can... swab the decks or something. Robin, you're smart, so you try and navigate. I'll steer the ship... And Sanji, go cook me something, I'm hungry."

"Wh-HEY! How does that have _anything_ to do with saving Nami?" Sanji argued.

"Don't be such a pussy-ass, dartboard brow. I'm swabbing the decks, and I'm not complaining." Zoro commented, leaning against the wall with his arms folded.

_"Shut the hell up, you shitty marimo!"_

Zoro smirked, as his intention to piss off Sanji had succeeded. Then, almost as quickly as his grin had appeared, it had disappeared and evolved into solid, raw seriousness.

Luffy yelled in his best military drill sergeant voice,

"NO QUESTIONS! MOVE OUT!"

...

Nami's eyelashes fluttered open to find that she had been shoved inside a very dark and very small container.

_Ugh... What happened...? How long have I..._

Her thoughts stopped in their tracks when an overwhelming wave of coldness suddenly swept over her. She began shivering, and since the container walls were so cold she had assumed it had been crafted from a metal of some sort. Her feet were bound, as well as her hands, from which ropes were fastened securely behind her back. A tattered piece of old but strong cloth was tied tightly around her mouth.

Everything was pitch black.

Even though she couldn't see a thing, she knew she was badly wounded; for the tight space she was uncomfortably crammed in reeked of blood. When she put her chin to her chest to try and loosen the cloth plastered over her mouth, she had felt the dried and sticky source of it.

She wouldn't dare tilt her head back.

If she opened the wound up even a tiny bit more, she knew she could die.

The metal container, despite its small size, echoed even the slightest bit of fidgeting that had taken place inside of it. Perhaps that was why whoever abducted her had chosen that particular container. Even Nami, a talented and experienced thief, had found it difficult to escape from this situation.

Listening closely for the sound of any footsteps nearby her, she started to slowly make her first move. Pushing her back up into a distorted arch, she started to forcefully twist and ease her hands out of the ropes. She thought she'd been making decent progress, until her knuckles started to bleed.

_"Dammit..."_ She said under her breath, but that small problem didn't stop her from trying.

It was then that she froze at the sound of footsteps.

" Gentlemen? What is _that?"_

The source of the footsteps asked, displeased.

"The girl. We thought you'd prefer her in a way that she couldn't steal our treasure,"

The next voice replied with a deep and eerie voice.

"The girl? You mean my daughter," the first voice said again.

There was a long and strained silence.

"Y-your... Daughter? But... w-we thought she-" one of the other voices stuttered.

He interrupted, "Why the hell did you throw her in a steel crate? Get out of here."

Nami gasped so much that she almost inhaled the cloth concealing her mouth.

That's... My father out there? She thought to herself. Still keeping in mind that this might be a scam, she remained frozen.

" Aye aye, cap'n," another voice said, and she heard the footsteps slowly exit the room.

_Why would my father send people to abduct and kill me?_ Nami thought, puzzled, slowly lowering herself to her original position.

_And how does he know he really is my father? _

She shrugged.

_Eh, I'm sure he's a fraud._

Listening intently with full curiosity, she heard him make his way to the container she was in. He started to try and pry it open with his hand, and after a few long minutes of trying, he started to ease in a sword between the case and the lid. He was obviously expecting her to be unconscious since she had been trapped in the container for so long. The sword, surprisingly strong, started to lift the lid just enough to let in an overwhelming amount of light for Nami. Everything had been blurred for just a moment, but just as her apparent father had decided to leave the sword there so he could find something stronger, she noticed his tall, thin frame and dark red hair, which was now slightly graying.

But then, as her vision focused, she noticed something else.

He was missing an arm.

...

Hm. Sound familiar?(:

Don't forget to review!


	5. A New Way to the Island

Author's note: Hey again! So here's the 5th chapter, I hope you don't think it's boring. I probably just think so cause I re-read it like a gazillion times. Not gonna lie. I worked so freaking hard on this chapter.

~Whatsherface739

"For the last time, Luffy," Robin started, focusing as hard as she could on Nami's maps that had been left behind.

"I _can_ read, but that doesn't exactly make me a navigator. We may as well be stranded forever at this point."

Luffy remained silent, glaring steadily at the pure ocean ahead of them. He gripped the wheel tightly as the sun had continued to rise, bringing a blue and white end to the gold and lavender of dawn. He had been in the same position since that night when he went on ranting and giving people orders, with his eyes glued to the horizon all the while. How ironic it was, that the last thing he'd laughed about was the very idea of them being lost.

"Well, maybe we wouldn't be running out of food supplies if rubber-monkey over here didn't eat all of the meat last night," Sanji pestered him, flicking away another cigarette.

He held out a bowl of soup.

"Here's your food that you just _had_ to have."

Luffy's eyes never left the sea.

"Not hungry," he said casually.

Nearly everyone's jaw suddenly dropped in utter shock.

"_LUFFY...?_ NOT HUNGRY!?" Usopp exclaimed in disbelief.

"NO WAY! NO WAY!" Chopper echoed.

Sanji, losing his patience, said through gritted teeth,

"It took me an_ hour_ to prepare this soup. And you're _not hungry?"_

Everyone silently stopped what they were doing and focused on Sanji by way of respect, since they could tell he was truly pissed off.

Luffy waited a bit, only to feel for the direction the wind was blowing. Then, he simply replied,

"Nope."

Infuriated, Sanji dropped the soup and gripped Luffy's collar with his free hand.

"I'm not sure _what_ it is... But you've had the tendency to get on my nerves a _lot_ more than usual lately."

Luffy stared blankly at his eyes.

"I'm getting real sick of you trying to boss me around all the time. It's really pissing me off," he replied.

Sanji grinned.

"You wanna fight me?" He taunted.

"We can fight if you want, Sanji. Right here, right now. But I only care about one thing today, and that's Nami."

Luffy replied glaring, as his emotions began to surface again.

"C'mon, ero-cook. I think Nami's a little more important than your soup," Zoro argued, standing up.

"Stay out of this, you shitty swordsman."

"Why don't you come over here and _make me?"_

Sanji dropped Luffy's collar.

They suddenly stopped in their tracks as the ship began to violently rock back and forth and creak horribly loud.

Everyone slowly got into their battle-ready positions, heads and eyes darting every which way, searching for the source of the disturbance. All except for Chopper, who frantically ran to get the first-aid equipment ready.

Whatever it was, it was big.

The rocking continued, and impatience continued to weigh over the crew. The ship kept teetering, rocking more and more violently, causing a little more than a few crew members to lose their balance. It seemed like decades that it had gone on, when suddenly... It stopped.

The ship was still, and so was the water.

It had all happened too suddenly, but everyone continued to hold their ground.

Without warning, a ginormous explosion of dark, writhing, and shiny flesh came bursting through the thin surface of the ocean. It roared and thrashed about, like a monstrous wounded banshee.

It was another kraken; almost as big as the one they had fought in their past. But it had a rather different physical appearance. It had a large, gaping ring for a mouth, with many different rows of teeth lining each layer of depth into its throat. It was like a living shredder.

_"GUM-GUM PISTOL!"_

Its terrible roars ceased as Luffy's rubber fist made an incredibly forceful first blow, crushing its round jaws, and sending only a few of its millions of fangs flying into the ocean. As it was only mildly wounded, Franky stepped in and heaved the potato sacks from earlier, which were now filled with cinder blocks left in storage, toward its head. The dreadful creature yelped in pain as it hit its temple full-force, making it thrash its tentacles every which way. Now at the peak of its anger, it shot one of its tentacles at Luffy. Its razor-sharp claws dug into his cheek, slicing upward to his hat, snapping the connecting string and leaving it severed on the claw.

Blood gushing out of his cheek, he fiercely hooked his arms to the mast, and ran backwards to stretch them out, preparing his sling-shot attack.

"GIVE... MY..."

Luffy let momentum take its toll, flying towards the tentacle.

_"...HAT BACK!"_

In mid-air, he glided over the tentacle, quickly stole his hat back, and placed it on his head. Now airborne above the water, he stretched his arm to wrap around the mast again, and snapped back onto the ship.

Landing in a kneel and feeling awesome, he grinned, his hand still gripped securely onto his hat.

The creature flashed its ring of piercingly sharp knife-like teeth. It still struggled to maintain its balance from Franky's attack, as it dizzily made another thick, gigantic tentacle bust open the waves of the ocean. It swayed tauntingly on the opposite side of the ship, ready to strike anyone who stood in its range of reach. Without hesitation, it violently jetted towards Luffy again. Quickly, Zoro and Sanji faced each other, and nodded.

Using their air force power shoot, Sanji swung his leg around full-force, and Zoro grabbed hold of it, causing him to shoot towards the tentacle.

Before Luffy even had time to turn around, let alone react, Zoro perfectly sliced the tentacle with a sickening crackling sound. The tentacle dropped limply with a _thud_ on the ship's deck. It lay only inches away from Luffy's ankles. With a painful screech, the creature's decapitated tentacle sloppily wriggled in the air. Spewing liquid every which way, it slowly lowered the tentacle, and began whimpering.

"Looks like we're having kraken tentacle for the next few months," Sanji said with his eyebrows raised, staring at the huge heap of a limb.

The creature, now even more infuriated, wailed a bloodcurdling wail as it thrashed and whipped around yet another tentacle.

Only this one was meant for Zoro.

Faster than even the swordsman's reflexes could catch up with, the giant thing slammed atop Zoro with great impact, knocking him unconscious.

Robin gasped.

"Zoro!" She cried out, but then clasped her mouth shut, hoping the others would ignore her sudden outburst.

Using her Hana Hana ability, she let several rows of her hands one-by-one roll his limp body towards her. Once he was safely laid in front of her, she went to her knees so she could keep his head in her lap to keep him comfortable until he gained consciousness again. She peered down on him, looking over his face. Luckily, she didn't seem to notice any serious injuries, save for a bump she could feel on the back of his head. It pained her more than anything to see him this way, and it was in times like these that she couldn't dare hide it.

Suddenly, almost as quick as he was knocked out, he grunted in pain and tried to ease himself into a sitting position. Eyes shut tight, he rubbed the back of his head, furiously trying to ease the pain. Robin smiled calmly, overjoyed inside just to see him awake again.

The kraken's limb was beginning to lose a lot of blood by now. Realizing this, it then lowered its huge head, and began fearfully and cautiously swimming away.

"Hey! Wait!" Luffy called after it, pressing his hand to the flesh of his wound, which was already almost dried.

The large shadow beneath the ocean surface halted.

"You dumbass! What are you doing!? Look what that thing did to your face! And it could've killed..That shitty marimo!" Sanji yelled at him.

"Hah! Like _you'd_ care!" Zoro hissed at the cook.

"I only care because Robin-chwan cares!" Sanji shot back.

"I wanna see where it came from," Luffy replied in obvious desperation, ignoring their quarrel. All he cared about, at this very moment, was Nami.

Still whimpering, the creature now slowly rose to the surface on the ship's side, facing Luffy.

"Can you lead us to the nearest island?" Luffy asked it.

"You idiot! It can't speak English!" Sanji shouted, but Zoro gave him a face that told him to be quiet, for he was curious to see what would happen.

The creature glared at Zoro with pure hatred in its eyes. It glared at its detached limb, and then switched to Zoro's eyes for a few minutes, then back to the limb again.

"Look, it's not like you don't have eight or so more of those where that came from," the smart-ass swordsman started.

"I had to save our captain. And it looks to me like you got even," he winced as he rubbed the bump.

The kraken roared in disapproval and began to face the opposite direction once again.

Luffy then leaned over the railing and called,

"Wait! Please? I think you're really cool! You could be my pet!"

His eyes grew as wide as saucers, and he gasped.

_"I KNOW! YOU COULD JOIN MY CREW!"_

He exclaimed, having come up with another one of his bright ideas.

Sanji slapped his palm to his face, shaking his head.

The creature was facing the ship now. It didn't seem interested by the offer.

Luffy sighed.

"Aw, c'mon. Pleaaaase?" He whined.

The annoyed monster didn't even make eye contact.

"You gotta bring us to that island. One of our crew members got taken from us... and I gotta find her," he pleaded.

Still disinterested, the creature waited.

"Zoro said he's sorry," Luffy pried.

"Wha-? No I didn-!" his sentence was cut off by one of Robin's hands pressed over his mouth.

In a snooty manner, it waved its nubby tentacle in the air, as if to signal,

_Fix this, first._

Luffy nodded in understanding.

"HEY, CHOPPER!" He yelled.

The small and timid reindeer poked his head around the corner of the cabin entry, shaking at the sight of the kraken. Luffy looked over his shoulder to meet his terrified beady eyes.

"C'mere," he told him.

Trembling with fear, Chopper step-by-step waddled up to where Luffy stood.

"Y-Yes... C-Captain?"

"You think you got enough bandages to wrap that?"

Chopper gulped as the bloody tentacle came slithering towards his face. He rummaged through his first aid kit, and held up the roll in victory.

"Ah... Yep! Looks like I got just enough!" He falsely smiled to hide his terror.

Luffy grinned ear-to-ear.

"Great! Now hurry and wrap it so we can get to that island."

Chopper sweat dropped, and his tiny eyes grew bulbous on his face.

"W-Wrap it... R-Right."

His tiny hoof-hands trembling, he carefully unraveled the bandage roll, and stretched it across for measurement. He tried jumping up to reach the wound a few times, and then asked,

"Would you mind...?"

The monster slammed its tentacle down on the deck, causing Chopper to jump out of the way. A bit flustered, and a little tempted to yell at the monster, he stopped himself and gently began to wrap the bandage. The creature wailed a few times in pain, but Chopper had reassured it that it was normal to feel pain, which caused it to quickly calm down.

Smoothing the final bandage and patting it down, Chopper stepped back in pride.

As if the creature really_ could_ understand, the kraken stayed true to its word. It wrapped its many tentacles securely around the bow of the ship, and began steering it in the right direction. Then, as if it were a giant speed boat, the thousand sunny took off with the incredible swimming speed of the sea-monster.

Luffy threw his fists to the sky in victory, yelling,

"Yeeeaaahhh! Wooooo!"

Chopper trotted over to the ecstatic captain, informing him,

"Now it's your turn, Luffy."

Ussop sat down, confused.

"So we have this huge battle with a kraken, and then it just pulls our ship to the island for us? Nothing makes sense anymore..."

...

It took Nami's father no time at all to find the crowbar.

But it _did_ take him forever to pry open the lid.

She waited in utter anticipation, watching the crowbar be forced upward, and then upward again, each time making her wonder if this was the time it would finally be opened or not.

She slipped the cloth down to her neck, so she could speak when she needed to.

Her father grunted, putting as much force into his one arm as he possibly could, when it finally snapped the lock. The lid creaked as he slowly lifted it.

His eyes met Nami's for the first time since the island attack years ago, when he had so blindly and unknowingly abandoned her. He was taken aback by the sight of her being tied up, and all of the dried blood that had coated her chest. He didn't want to think about what had happened earlier.

"Who are you?" She asked him, violently glaring.

He silently stared at her, letting the moment sink in.

Nami remained staring him down.

"I _said, _who_ ARE _you_?"_

He ignored her question.

"When we had left you on that island... Your mother and I... We thought you..."

"...Were _dead?"_ She finished for him. Nami was impressed by how he knew that, and was swayed to believe him a just a bit more.

Shame draped over his face.

"Well... when you put it _that_ way..."

She focused on his eyes, since she knew all too well what a great human lie detector she was.

"My name is Nami now. My foster mother Bellemere named me that,"

She started.

He listened intently, seemingly frozen.

"You probably named me something else when I was small... That is, if you really_ are_ my father."

She scowled at him, her suspicions surfacing again. He hastily came over to her and unbound her hands and feet, and removed the cloth around her neck, carefully wiping away the dried blood. It didn't come with ease, because at first Nami had refused to let him help her, but eventually she gave in, realizing she could lose even more blood without help.

He tossed the ropes and cloth to the side, and faced her again. A few moments passed, for he was still in deep shock after seeing her again for the first time.

It was then that he finally spoke to her.

"Narena," he said.

"Your name... Was Narena."

Nami's eyes widened.

A huge wave of her past came gushing over her.

There was a long silence.

"Who... Who told you that!?" She asked, tears forming in her eyes.

She focused on him, and the longer she stared, the more she realized his face had perfectly matched the one in her memories.

_N-No way... It can't be... _Her thoughts told her.

_"Father?"_ She suddenly blurted in disbelief, tears streaming down her face.

"Is that... _Really_ you?"

He grinned.

Hysterical, she immediately stood up and hugged him, both of them laughing.

"Just look at you! You got so big!" He smiled with his huge teeth, ruffling her hair.

"I can't believe it! You're not dead!"

Nami beamed.

"Hey. I said that first," he replied.

She backed up from the hug, looking up at him with a huge grin.

It was so surreal to her, like a dream.

That was when her eyes unconsciously fell to his missing arm. She stared at it for awhile.

He took notice and asked,

"You wanna know how this happened?"

He pointed at what was left of his arm.

"Yeah... I do," she answered.

As if in response, he made his way across the room and ever-so-slowly sat in a chair; for his back wasn't really what it used to be.

He gestured for Nami to do the same, so he could begin his tale.

...

Don't forget to review! The more reviews the better(and the more likely I'll continue)! Thanks:D


	6. Secrets at Sea

Hey everyone!

Yes, school is officially out for me. I had finals and all of that other school crap, so I couldn't start chapter 6 until June. So anyway, this chapter is pretty much the Zoro x Robin chapter(If you don't understand some of what they're talking about, go back and look at chapter 5, 'cause I edited it). So if you're not a fan of that pairing(even just a little) I highly encourage you to turn back while you still can. ;)

Next chapter will switch back to Nami's POV.

Hope you like it...

~Whatsherface739

...

_Luffy lay on his back in the middle of a wheat field, his eyes fixed on the grey sky above him. His fingers were resting atop Nami's, who lay just to the right of him. They were only inches apart, and her eyes, too, lingered upon the sky._

_"Luffy, did I ever tell you... that you're my best friend?"_

_He turned to Nami, who's gaze was now on him, accompanied with a smile. It was the younger Nami. Her hair was only shoulder-length, and she looked just the same as when they first met. Luffy had just assumed that he was now younger, too._

_"I am?" He replied, astonished. Those words- was it even possible for the younger Nami to use them in the same sentence like that? _

_"Yeah, you are, but I always thought I'd kill myself before admitting it."_

_She laughed._

_"You've done more for me than anyone else has... so yeah, of course you are. Why? Don't believe me?"_

_"That's just... Kinda weird coming from you. But yeah, Nami. I, uh... feel the same way," he replied awkwardly._

_They both sat up at the same time. He, to avoid an unwanted thump on the head, and she to stop him._

_Nami smiled and scooted closer to him. She rested a hand on his cheek._

_"I want you to know... that no matter what stupid things I say, no matter what stupid things I do, and no matter what happens to me... "_

_She leaned in, resting her forehead on his._

___"...I will always believe in you."_

_He could feel his face heating up._

_"I, uh..." _

_His focus locked on her eyes, and he lost track of his thoughts. Reaching a hand out, he hesitated for only a moment, but then gently placed his hand on her cheek just so he could feel her soft skin again._

_She grinned, trying to hide the fact that her eyelids were slightly drooping at the feel of the warm, rubbery skin she'd so often dreamt about lately._

_He felt her fingers move outward from his face to his scalp to caress his hair. The sensation was so soft that it could have been mistaken by a breeze._

_"I missed you so much," she told him through her thoughts._

_"And I still do." _

_The strong feeling of presence disappeared, and she vanished into the wind._

_"Hurry up, Luffy... I need you._

_I need you..."_

Luffy snapped his eyes open. Lying on his back, he held his head in his hands, now staring into the blue sky above him. He had fallen asleep on deck again, next to the wheel.

Before any first thought, he felt the emptiness next to him, and the reality that Nami _was_ gone instantly came to surface. He felt his heart ache horribly. The newly weakened strawhat shot up into a sitting position with gritted teeth and clenched his chest with a shaking hand. Every time it beat, it felt like a wooden stake being driven through his chest.

"What the hell... Is this? What's wrong with me?"

The clueless captain shook it off as best he could, deciding that if it wouldn't go away, he would endure the pain. He leapt into a standing position, ready to take on the day and find Nami.

Pulling his arms up above his head to stretch, he noticed the monster still hauling the ship forth, but starting to decrease its speed a little from exhaustion. Despite this, he placed his hands on his hips in mild satisfaction of knowing that they were actually getting somewhere.

And plus: he really liked the thought of himself taming a kraken.

Hands still on his hips, his eyes shifted downward to the floor next to him to where Robin and Zoro had been earlier. Nothing remained but Nami's pile of maps and a hand-made atlas placed face-down on the floorboards. They were barely anchored down enough to prevent the wind from carrying them away.

Luffy knelt down and carefully picked up the maps one-by-one, leaving the atlas for last. He gazed over the maps blankly, knowing deep down that there was no way he would ever be able to really understand them, let alone read them. He was never really educated, but his eyes remained on the maps only because he knew it was Nami who had drawn them. He was fascinated by how smart she was, even though many times she could be pretty mean about it. But he knew she didn't even realize it half the time. She was only trying to express how she felt, and that was the only way she knew how because of the life she had lived.

The longer he stared at the maps, the more his already-aching heart began to melt. He clutched his chest again and looked away from the maps, attempting to steer his thoughts away from her. Now realizing the cause of the pain, he decided to do what he proved to have a talent in: ignoring his emotions.

So gathering up the maps in his arms, he blankly stared ahead as he went to return them to where they belonged. On his way there, Chopper stopped him.

"Luffy! Have you seen Zoro? He's got this huge bump on his head, and I need to have a look at it."

Luffy shrugged.

"Last I saw him he was over there, where Robin left these maps," he said, jerking his head towards where Robin had sat.

"Did 'ya check the Crow's Nest?" He asked the small reindeer.

Chopper sweat dropped.

"B-But... That's where Robin went... to _read_..."

After hearing this, Luffy couldn't help but smirk. He continued on to put away the maps.

Chopper's eye twitched. He wondered if what he was thinking was a reality.

...

Zoro lay back against the wall of the crow's nest, in his usual relaxed position with his head cradled in his hands. It was usually a place known for building his strength, but when the time was right, he used it to sleep or to just have some peace and quiet. Eyes shut as if he were sleeping, he deeply inhaled and exhaled, slowly sighing restlessly, daydreaming about something-

Or _someone_.

What was he thinking about?

No way in hell would he tell anyone.

But he did have one person on his mind. And one person only.

Suddenly, the floor creaked, making him jump a little inside. He opened an eye to see none other than Nico Robin there, across the room.

"Robin...? What are you doing here?" He asked, hiding all of the emotion he possibly could in his voice.

"I thought I would stop by to see how you were feeling," she replied with concern.

He tried his hardest to make it seem like he didn't care.

She then daintily walked his way, unconsciously swaying her hips with her long, luscious hair trailing behind her. He couldn't help but stare at her, dumbfounded, secretly in awe, hopelessly in love, and silently cursing, questioning to himself why he was always trying so hard to hide it.

Besides, why would she even _think_ of feeling that way about someone so much younger than she was? How could she possibly feel the same way about someone like _him?_

The feeling was so foreign to Zoro. And it still was, so he had no idea what to do or how to react.

She sat down next to him.

The secretive swordsman only forced himself to look away, scowling as he folded his arms across his chest and shut his eye again.

Concerned about his injury, she let two of her hands grow from the wall and cup around his head, acting as a pillow for him.

He then grinned thankfully for the comfort, which made her do the same.

"Chopper was supposed to tend to you..."

She stopped a moment, attempting to come up with something convincing.

The raven-haired beauty sighed in defeat.

"What is it?" the first mate turned his head slightly, responding to her sigh.

"Zoro, I..."

Her sentence was interrupted by a tap on the ladder. It was a tap pretty low on the ladder, so naturally Zoro assumed it was Chopper.

"Eh, erm... Zoro? I, uh... Hate to _interrupt_ anything, but... I need to see your... uh, injury."

He glanced at Robin. She was calmly smiling, telling him he could do whatever he pleased, and stood up to leave.

She was a little shocked when he quickly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down to where she was before, telling her to stay.

He seemed to understand what Robin was trying to tell him.

Zoro remained silent awhile longer, until they heard the little pitter-patter of tiny hooves leaving below, as Chopper assumed he was asleep.

He turned from the ladder to Robin. They were now both sitting on the floor and facing each other, his hand still grasping hers.

Actually _blushing_, the swordsman became irritated with himself for displaying such a revealing clue.

Robin noticed this, and glanced from his face, down to his hand firmly holding hers, and back to his face again. She smirked.

"Don't try to hide it," she said seductively. She tilted her head slightly, much like that of a curious snake being charmed.

"I know what you're thinking."

"Nrrgh..." Zoro groaned, gritting his teeth from his sudden frustration towards himself.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he blurted angrily, though still refusing to let go of her hand.

He was taken off-guard when he felt two hands slip up by his thighs. His expression immediately switched from anger to surprise.

"H-Huh!?"

"I can see right through you, swordsman."

The hands were tenderly stroking their way higher, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut. Chest rising and falling as he began breathing heavier, he voiced his surrender.

"Alright, alright..."

Robin made the hands disappear, as she was curious for what he had to say. He dropped his head to his chest in relief, but then lifted it to meet her glistening grey-blue eyes. It pained him to look at them day after day, only because it was all he ever dreamed about. He readied himself, not quite sure of how to say it.

"I can't sleep. I can't sleep because of you. You're always on my mind and I can't take it anymore. It's no longer just a distraction. Now, it's a _need_."_  
_

Robin remembered when Zoro had been the last one to emerge from his cabin in the urgent call that Nami had gone missing.

_So that's why..._

"I need you. If I can't have you, I grow weak... that's all I know."

He tightened his grip on her hand.

"That's all I can understand. When I look at you... I have to _force_ myself to look away..."

Her eyelids gave in to her emotion as they grew heavy on her lovestruck eyes. He had never talked to her in this way before.

"Zoro..."

Touched by his words, she softly placed her hand on his face near his scarred eye.

Already a bit shocked with the tone in her voice, he was slightly taken aback by the unexpected look in her eyes. A look so full of the same emotion he was feeling deep down, but had been trying so desperately to hide all of this time. Had she been feeling..._ the same way?_

Her azure orbs glistened, and a sensual smile curled the corners of her rosebud lips that could make any man go crazy.

He gritted his teeth and swallowed, challenging himself to fight it. He had always believed that nothing good would come of things like this. That was part of the reason why he had found it so hard to trust her in the beginning.

But maybe, just _maybe, _he could try it. Just this _one time._

He leaned towards her, and slipped his other hand up behind her neck, gliding his strong and callused fingers through her beautiful thick mane of hair. He gazed at her gorgeous and now flushed visage that never failed to keep him up night after night. He felt several other hands stroking and caressing him in places that made him blush- which he very rarely did- including one that was toying with his mouth, which made her laugh a little. He smirked in triumph at his ability to make her laugh, when suddenly his patience was cut short.

He quickly pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss, making the hand disappear.

Robin murmured a hum of pleasure as her other extra hands disappeared as well, for she was so lost in the moment that nothing else mattered to her.

His muscles bulged and twitched in unexpected thrill as she ran her delicate fingers down his exceptionally firm chest, and he let out a deep moan against her mouth.

Her beautiful blue hues, now gushing with ardor on her flushed face, fluttered open, letting her soft lashes brush against his own scarlet-flushed cheek.

Robin put her hand to his shoulder, gently shaking it back and forth, gesturing him to stop for a moment so she could say something.

"Nnn-nnn," he replied, shaking his head, telling her 'no.'

He figured that if this was the first time, it may be the last.

But if _he_ didn't stop, she would.

The moment her lips parted from his, he hungrily stretched out his muscular neck to try and snatch them back. Tilting his head to the side, he almost succeeded, but she firmly put a finger to his lips to calm him down.

"Zoro..." She softly sang to him, letting her breath trickle down his tempted half-open mouth. It drove him crazy, and he gritted his teeth in frustration, which greatly contrasted with his flushed cheeks and entranced eyes. It caused him to breathe heavier and his muscular physique to heave, as he was slowly transforming into the beast he caged so deep in his heart; the one he had been saving for her, and only her.

"I've been wanting to say this for nearly three years, since I'd officialy joined the crew. I do tend to be patient, but even I found it very hard to wait so long."

Robin rested a hand on his bare chest, feeling his rapidly-beating heart. But almost as soon as she touched it, the beat began to gradually slow. It warmed her own heart to realize she had such a calming effect on him. Calming down greatly, Zoro decided to listen.

"I'm not sure how you'll take it, but given... what's happened so far, I think it's safe to say that you feel the same way."

He slowly scanned her face, taking in every gorgeous last inch of it. He scanned it over and over, because he had never really gotten the chance to do so in this way before. The woman of his dreams might actually confess what he had been wanting to confess himself for so long. The lovely raven-haired mystical creature, too beautiful to be human. He was growing impatient to hear what she was wanting to say, although still distracted by her entrancing allure.

She looked at him much the same way he looked at her, in a seemingly hypnotized way. She absolutely adored his face. It was so extremely handsome, and she knew for a fact that it could make any woman's heart melt. He was every girl's dream, so of course she had thought it as just a silly crush years ago. This was why she had never said anything about it until now. His strong, muscular body practically radiated his power and his sexy aura, which made her heart pound like none other.

They froze in place, both unsure of what to do or exactly how to handle it... Something so fragile, so delicate like this. It was new to both of them.

_"I love you."_

They were so much alike, that they had both said it to each other, at the same time.

That was when they grinned, and Zoro practically mauled Robin, actually laughing while tackling her to the floor. She then silenced his laughter by planting yet another smoldering kiss on the swordsman. He let out an erotic groan that sent shivers up her spine.

It seemed as if a century had passed until he slowly parted from her warm, kiss-swollen lips. It took every ounce of his willpower to hold back from unleashing the beast that he knew wasn't far from being revealed. He let his hot breath fan over her, as his dark eyes swooned longingly over her blushing face.

"We tell _no one a_bout this," he said to her firmly.

"_No one."_

He couldn't even imagine all of the crap Sanji and the others would give him.

She nodded her head, her lips curling into a lovely smirk.

"Agreed," she purred in reply.

...

"Captain Shanks... That was his... _Daughter?"_

The puzzled crew member scratched his head in confusion.

"But... she's one of the Strawhats," another commented. "How can he be so sure?"

A third pirate shrugged in reply.

"Beats me. I don't even know if 'e's aware of who's ship she came from."

They paused, thinking everything over.

"He gave us an order to inspect the ship, and set a trap... So we did..."

"And after making us think she was a criminal, 'e all of the sudden comes out and says she's 'is daughter."

"What the hell?"

They exchanged puzzled looks.

"Aye, come to think of it, did Cap'n really actually tell us to set up the trap? And which ship to go to? Who told us that part?"

"Nah, the new crew member did... The creepy-ass one with the hood. Never shows 'is face. Told us it was Captain's orders..."

Suspicion began to weigh over the small circle of sailors.

"When did he join the crew, anyway?"

"Don't recall."

"No idea."

"Beats me... Again."

"I think we all know Shanks wouldn't let some weirdo like _that_ on board. Who was the dumbass who took 'is orders?"

"Prob'ly me. I can't even remember what happened five minutes ago."

"Aye... We'd better spread the word."

"Aye!" The five sailors chanted in unison.

They then split up, and one of them just missed the shadow to the right of him, concealing a hooded figure that had heard everything. It reached a gloved hand out to pull the sailor into the darkness with such precision, such skill... It was just enough for nobody to notice.

The five of them were never heard from again.

...

Well, that wraps up that chapter, hm?(:

I wonder who that creepy-ass hooded guy is. You'll just have to review so I'll keep writing:P

And with Zoro x Robin, try not to complain about the sappy stuff. This is a (mostly) romance fanfic, so you got what you wanted, yeah? Yeah. And I enjoyed every moment of writing it, anyway. ;P


	7. One Arm Isn't Worth Much

A/N: Yeah, well, I'm kinda running out of excuses as to why I don't update until forever, so I'm just kinda gonna let that one slide this time... Heh heh.

Anyways, this chapter is mostly a reminder of Shanks's and Luffy's past and their relationships with each other. Yeah, he's supposed to be telling Nami all of this, but I thought it would be easier to tell it in flashback mode(italics). So I did. And another thing that might confuse you:

When flashback mode says Luffy's name, it doesn't exactly mean Shanks is saying his name to Nami. I just thought it would be a little less repetitive and easier to read. And as far as romance goes, this chapter has diddly-squat, sorry to disappoint you. But it's pretty good as far as action goes, and I used the actual scenes from the show as a reference, blah blah blah, enjoy.

...

Nami wet her lips to soothe the stinging sensation from the searing heat of the tea. She listened intently, anxiously waiting for the red-haired man to finally begin the tale of his past. Judging by how well he prepared for it, she had guessed he'd told this story to a good number of people before her. He'd made sure the wound on her neck was well taken care of too, of course. He wanted everything to be in ship-shape before he told it. It seemed to be pretty important to him.

Her eyes focused on the redhead, who sloppily plopped down and sprawled out on the chair across from her.

Nami gripped the teacup firmly.

"Well, let's see. It all started with just... a goofy kid,"

He started, smiling heartily with his big teeth. It was as if he could picture the kid in his mind at that very moment.

"He was brave, big-hearted, and tough... Ha! Even I used to doubt that last part, but he stabbed himself right under the eye just to prove me otherwise."

He let out a long laugh, shaking his head.

"Ah, that kid... It even left a scar, right here."

He lifted his one lazy arm, and pressed a finger beneath his right eye. Nami raised an eyebrow at this.

"...A_ scar,_ hm?" She replied, now furiously sipping her tea and ignoring her burning throat.

"Yeah..."

_See, Shanks? Now I have a scar, just like you!_

"Heh, heh... Anyway, he was... A good kid. After I'd lost you, a few years later I found him. He was one of the most ambitious young men I'd ever known..."

...

_"How can a boy like you become a pirate?" Shanks laughed long and hard at the idea._

_"Why not?" The boy said, unfazed. _

_Another pirate turned to him. He was the sniper of the crew, with blonde dreadlocks, and he had a bandana stretched across his forehead that read "YASSOP."_

_"Luffy. It's not about how well you can swim. A pirate is worth more than that," he remarked. This made him a little angry._

_"I can fight too. My punches are like pistols!" He replied enthusiastically._

_A fatter man, who was wearing an old-fashioned green and white striped shirt, bit off a chunk of meat from his lunch._

_"Luffy is just a little kid still," He retorted._

_"Yeah. You're about the same age as my kid," Yassop agreed._

_Luffy's expression distorted into frustration._

_"I'm not a kid, I'm a MAN!" He shouted._

_"Don't get so angry," Shanks reassured him, smiling calmly._

_"Here, have some juice." _

_Luffy's smile stretched ear-to ear. _

_"Thanks!" He said happily, taking a sip._

_"See? Still a kid." Shanks smirked, teasing the small boy across from him who was now hesitating to drink his glass of juice. The whole place then erupted in laughter._

_"DAMN YOU, SHANKS!" He yelled at the redhead, slamming his juice down. His head darted around to the rest of the crew._

_"DON'T LAUGH AT ME! WHAT THE HELL! STINKY SHANKS!" _

_Just then, everyone's laughter ceased. A mysterious figure kicked the entrance door full force and a section of it flew across the room. _

_The shadowed man slowly stepped into the light. It was as if he had evolved into a visible creature. Staring expressionless into no eyes in particular, he let but four words casually slip from his tongue. _

_"Sorry for the interruption." _

_The room fell silent, save a soft clattering that rang directly next to Luffy's small ears. He stood still for what seemed like a century. Everyone besides Shanks returned the stare. _

_"So these are the so-called pirates," _

_He spoke again._

_"They look like idiots." _

_He advanced across the room, making sure to step on the section of the door he had broken off with a slow crunching sound. He butted in front of the still-eating Shanks. _

_Maniko, the Jade-haired bartender, approached the man with a kind smile. _

_"Welcome," she said to him, as if he hadn't made any kind of intrusion. _

_Luffy gaped at both of them._

_"We're bandits, but we're not here to destroy your bar. We need ten barrels of sake." _

_Murmurs of laughter came out of the many bandits, all dressed in white, who stood behind him. _

_Maniko's smile remained, but her eyes gave off a worried expression._

_"I'm sorry, but we're out of sake at the moment."_

_"Hmm? That's strange... The pirates are drinking something... Is it water?" The man replied with a sly grin. Maniko's worried dark eyes darted outside._

_"All the sake that we have is out there." _

_Shanks's eyes darted up to him._

_"That's not good. We drank everything," he interrupted._

_A wide smile grew across the red-haired man's face as the bandit gave him a weird look._

_"Sorry," he continued, grabbing a small bottle of sake. _

_"If you want, you can have this. I haven't opened it yet." _

_Shanks handed it to him. The bandit's hand widened, as if he were about to accept it. But it quickly curled into a fist and smashed the bottle, causing liquid to spatter everywhere. _

_Maniko gasped, and she covered her gaping mouth in shock. _

_Luffy's eyes widened._

_"I'm a wanted man. I'm worth 8 million Belli. One bottle won't be nearly enough. Don't take me so lightly."_

_Shanks sat still, letting his hat darken his eyes. _

_He then lifted his head, glancing at the floor with a disappointed expression on his face. _

_"Now the floor's all wet. Sorry about that, Maniko," he muttered, kneeling down to clean up the mess. "Do you have a mop?" _

_Maniko peered down at him, still worried. _

_"I-ah... I'll take care of it." She responded, hastily making her way around. She abruptly stopped in her tracks when she heard yet another crashing sound. Her head darted to the direction of the sound._

_"Looks like you enjoy cleaning up. You'll enjoy this even more."_

_Shanks still sat slumped over on the floor, his hat once again hiding his eyes._

_"No point in wasting time here if you don't have any sake. Let's go." _

_The man made his way back to the entrance, his group of little bandit henchmen following in his footsteps._

_"Later, cowards," he made sure to tell them on his way out. This caused several bursts of laughter from the henchmen._

_Luffy, now shaking with fury, kept his eyes locked on the creaking remains of the entrance door. _

_However, it didn't seem to really affect anyone else._

_Maniko hastily made her way over and kneeled down next to Shanks._

_"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere, captain?" _

_Shanks put his hand up in the air, as if to brush it off._

_"I'm fine, no problem."_

_His raw seriousness remained._

_But even then, he cracked a smile._

_Everyone seemed to notice this and erupted into laughter again. _

_"They really got you, that's funny!" Yassop chuckled. _

_"How shameful!" Someone else blurted._

_Shanks took off his hat, and began laughing heartily with them. Maniko remained at his side, scrubbing a small cut on his arm with a cloth._

_"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!?" Luffy screamed in disbelief. _

_Everyone continued. _

_Frustrated, he turned around and spotted a fruit lying on the bar's counter. He spun around on his chair and immediately stuffed his face with the fruit. _

_"You shouldn't eat out of frustration, Luffy," Shanks told him with a smile._

_"Shut up!" Luffy shot back with his mouth full._

_Shanks's smile faded at the sight of the fruit._

_"Wait! What are you eating!?"_

_Luffy ignored him, and swallowed. _

_"No! You didn't! Don't tell me you ate the fruit that was inside that box!"_

_"Uh-I... Uh..." _

_Shanks grabbed him by the ankles, holding him upside down._

_"Spit it out! Right now! Every single bit!" He yelled, shaking him up and down._

_"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY... ARE YOU SHAKING... ME!?" _

_The small boy's legs suddenly stretched out, causing his face to fall to the floor. Everyone silently stared as his body bounced back up like jello. _

_"What's going on..." He muttered, shocked at his own body ._

_"Luffy, you just ate a Devil fruit! Eating ANY of them takes away your ability to swim for the rest of your life!" _

_Luffy's eyes widened._

_"NO WAY! IT CAN'T!"_

_"YOU DUMBASS!" _

_..._

"...So, I _was_ gonna sell that fruit for about 500,000,000 Belli, but that dumbass kid ate it," Shanks said to Nami with an irritated look on his face.

Nami chuckled, already finding plenty of things in common with him. But a part of her felt like she _knew_ this kid he was talking about. And she also wondered why he never used the kid's name while he told the story. It all seemed too familiar... The devil fruit... The stretching of the legs... The constant eating... The simple-mindedness. She shook her head at this, however, shaking it off.

_You're just letting your thoughts get to you, Nami. Stop thinking about him._

She didn't ask any of the questions she really wanted to ask. She thought maybe it was for a purpose. Maybe he saved that part for last.

"So, what happened next?" She asked, sipping her tea.

"After the dumbass ate your fruit?"

He smiled at that.

"Well, that wasn't exactly the last we'd ever seen of those bandits..."

...

_"Pirate, you're still here?" _

_The head bandit said, glancing over his shoulder. _

_"Are you cleaning up the whole village?" _

_Shanks stood behind him, his whole crew serving as his backdrop. Luffy had gone missing, and Maniko had told Shanks that he'd gone off to fight the bandits. _

_But he wasn't worried for him at all. _

_He smiled._

_"Luffy! Isn't your punch as strong as a pistol?"_

_Luffy, who was now pinned by the bandit man's foot, uttered in reply,_

_"SHUT UP!"_

_The man remained staring at Shanks._

_"I don't know what you're here for, but you'd better leave before someone gets hurt. If you come any closer, I'll blow your head off, coward." _

_Shanks continued on to walk forward, when one of the henchmen held up a pistol to his temple. He halted._

_"He said not to come any closer or you'll get your head blown off," he said, as if he didn't comprehend the words the first time. The other bandits rumbled with deep laughter. _

_Shanks smirked._

_"Risk your life on it," he simply replied. _

_This puzzled the bandit with the gun._

_"What?"_

_"With that pistol, you will risk your life," he repeated._

_"What the hell are you talking about?" The pistol-wielder asked, still not getting it. Shanks pointed to the gun._

_"This isn't a child's game."_

_A gunshot rang out._

_The bandit fell dead, and next to him stood Lucky Roo, the fat man with the striped shirt who had been wielding a pistol as well. _

_He tore off a hunk of meat with his large teeth just as the man's body limply hit the ground._

_Nearly everyone gasped in shock._

_"You killed him!" One of the fellow henchmen shouted. _

_"What unfair bastards!"_

_Shanks's smile lingered upon his shaded face._

_"Unfair?" _

_"Don't be naive," Lucky Roo started. _

_"You're not fighting against holy men." _

_"The ones before you are pirates," Shanks continued. _

_"Shut up! We don't have any business with you!" One of the men in white yelled at them._

_"Listen, bandits," Shanks interrupted. _

_"I can have food spilled on me, drinks spilled on me, or even be spat at, and I'll laugh about it. But, if for any reason you hurt a friend of mine... I'll never forgive you."_

_Luffy's small eyes only stared at him in disbelief._

_"Shanks..."_

_The head bandit wheezed out another dreadful laugh._

_"Ha, ha, ha! You won't forgive us? Damned pirates. Men, kill them all!"_

_The henchmen followed the order and charged towards the crew, swords in hand._

_"I'm enough to take care of all of them," Said the first mate, Benn Beckman, to Shanks nonchalantly. _

_Using his flintlock rifle as a club, he beat the rest of his men to a pulp like it was nothing. _

_When he finished, the head bandit, actually fearful now, gazed upon him with cowardly eyes. _

_"You're dreaming, bandit. If you really want to fight us, bring a warship," Beckman taunted him. _

_"Wa... Wait a minute. This kid started it all," he said in defense, referring to Luffy._

_Shanks stayed put. "Isn't there a reward for your head?"_

_This made the bandit mortified._

_Using a smoke bomb, he blinded them and ran off with Luffy. Using a small rowboat, he quickly made his way out to the middle of the ocean. Once he had a long way's distance from Shanks and his crew, he dangled Luffy above the ocean water threateningly._

_"I escaped easily," he said with a gruff voice._

_"They'd never think that a bandit would run away to sea."_

_"DAMMIT! LET ME GO, YOU STUPID MOUNTAIN MONKEY! YOU SHOULD JUST GO DIE!" _

_The apparent mountain monkey only grinned._

_"Stupid, you're the one who's going to die. You really pissed me off."_

_Luffy glared at him with all of the hatred he could possibly muster._

_"Bye bye," the bandit told him, and threw him into his new death sentence: the ocean._

_"Dammit! Dammit! I wasn't even able to hit him once! Dammit!"_

_Luffy cursed himself under his breath, and fell into the ocean water._

_Thrashing and turning and struggling to keep up with the current of the ocean, Luffy tried his hardest to keep his head above the water's surface. He glowered at the now laughing bandit man._

_He hated him so much. _

_"Sorry, but you're of no use to me now," he called out to him from the rowboat. He chuckled heartily, his tall frame not enough to hide the gigantic wave slowly growing into the sky behind him. The wave's water pelted into the water below, like a giant waterfall, revealing a ginormous, razor-toothed sea monster with blood-red eyes. _

_The head bandit turned around, eyes wide as saucers._

_"...WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"_

_Luffy panicked, struggling harder, but swallowing more and more seawater as he struggled. _

_The creature let its huge mouth encircle around the rowboat. Without a second thought, it clasped its sharp teeth around the bandit, swallowing him whole._

_Luffy was afraid. He didn't know what to do. The water didn't allow him to do much of anything. _

_"SOMEONE HELP!" He shouted desperately. The sea monster darted like lightning-speed to where Luffy was. _

_But someone else had been faster. The creature dove to his side, thrusting its jaws downward, taking something with it, but sure as hell not his life._

_When it rose to the surface again, he shot a death glare at the monster._

_"Get lost."_

_The creature growled in resistance, remaining still for a few moments, but then dove into the ocean almost as quickly as it came._

_It had all happened so fast, that Luffy didn't even realize he was alive until he opened his eyes to see Shanks in front of him. He was in disbelief enough, knowing he had been saved... But the other event he had witnessed was far harder to believe._

_"I owe you, Luffy," He said._

_"Makino told me everything. You tried to fight them because of us."_

_Luffy sobbed, grabbing onto his shirt._

_Shanks smiled._

_"Hey, don't cry. You're a man, remember?"_

_"But... Shanks... Your arm!" He choked._

_Shanks's right arm had been sliced off to the shoulder by the sea monster's jaws._

_"It isn't worth much, it's just one arm," he said to comfort the hysterically sobbing Luffy. _

_"I'm glad you're safe."_

_..._

"...We'd stayed there for a long time, so we figured it was time to leave. The kid wanted to stay behind by himself that time... To become a pirate. It worked out for the best, though, because either way, I wouldn't have taken him with me."

Nami giggled.

"I doubted he could ever become a pirate. But I'll never forget the words he shouted after me. They were the exact words that the previous pirate king had said."

Nami froze, mid-sip.

"He said, 'I will become a pirate! I'll gather my own crew that'll beat yours, and find the world's greatest treasure! No matter what, I will become pirate king!' So, because of that, I thought he deserved a worthy reward. I let him take care of my precious straw hat. And to this day... They call him Straw Hat Luffy."

Nami gasped and dropped the teacup, causing it to shatter all over the floor. Her eyes grew so much out of surprise, it was almost as if her irises had shrunk.

"Luffy!?"

...

A/N: Yeah, hope you liked it! Next chapter will focus on Luffy's crew... How will they ever get to the island?

HAHAHA! I guess you'll have to find out in a whole MONTH! xD

Evil authoress!


End file.
